Owners of Chartreuse in Detroit's Midtown plan to open a fine dining restaurant and bar in Milwaukee Junction.

The business partners who launched the popular Chartreuse Kitchen & Cocktails in Midtown have nailed down a building in Milwaukee Junction where they hope to spread their culinary wings.

Restaurateur Sandy Levine and chef Doug Hewitt purchased a vacant building at 2929 East Grand Boulevard, where they plan to open a fine dining restaurant and cocktail bar called Freya & Dragonfly. Buildout at the 5,400-square-foot corner property is to begin in the next few weeks and be completed sometime next year, Levine said.

The 40-50 seat Freya — the goddess of love in Norse mythology — is imagined as a "tasting menu concept with flexibility," designed to spoil patrons with a premier guest experience but not break the bank, Levine said. Dragonfly, which will take up less space, will be more casual and offer "bright and vibrant" cocktails with a full wine program.

"We're trying to make a really, really special experience and sort of gear it toward regular people," Levine said. "A lot of the very fine dining restaurants are geared toward a whole bunch of money. We want to walk that extremely thin line of going way over the top for people and still make it accessible to everyone at least once in a while."

Levine said cocktails will cost $6-$15 at Dragonfly and food prices at Freya have not been set. Hewitt, whose culinary chops have earned him accolades, will develop the menu, with details forthcoming.

Photo

Sandy Levine and Doug Hewitt

Levine and Hewitt are equal business partners in Chartreuse and the new enterprise. Levine, who grew up in a family of restaurant operators, also runs The Oakland speakeasy-style bar in Ferndale.

The pair paid $725,000 for the building and plan to spend somewhere under $500,000 on buildout. The building was owned by John Petropoulos, who owns an oil and gas consultation firm based in Texas. According to city property records, the building was previously sold in 2016 for $210,000.

The planned restaurant sits along the main thoroughfare of an industrial area that has been largely abandoned but is drawing big investment lately. In a two-floor building adjoining the restaurant building, Detroit-based marketing agency Rebuild Group is working on a $2 million redevelopment. A block in the other direction, The Platform LLC is in the middle of a $16 million redevelopment of the Bleeding Rainbow Building, which will add to its swelling portfolio in the area. Method Development LLC is looking to rehab five industrial buildings there as well.

Levine said the building on Grand Boulevard will be the first restaurant where he owns both the business and the real estate. Chartreuse opened in 2015 in 3,000 square feet of space, and the 2,000-square-foot bar in Ferndale, opened in 2011, is also leased.

"We're highly aware of the conversation of new Detroit vs. old Detroit," Levine said. "We want to be a positive part of that. This allows us to work and try to earn a footprint in the city."

Struggle for a new spot

While Levine and Hewitt came to love the building at 2929 East Grand, it wasn't their first choice, or second or third. They had been scouring the area for three years and signed three letters of intent, all of which fell through for different reasons. After thousands of emails, hundreds of texts and phone calls, and countless hours of surfing Loopnet, they realized that finding property was as challenging as running a good restaurant.

Even the building they finally landed in came close to creeping past their best offer, but they officially closed on the purchase Friday. Lake Trust Credit Union is financing the purchase and buildout, and they plan to utilize a Michigan Saves loan for energy efficient equipment. The focus now is on selecting a general contractor to build out the space. They are awaiting approval from the state for a special City Redevelopment Area liquor license.

Levine said Freya will feature a large, open kitchen, which Chartreuse lacks. When it opened, the establishment was bar-focused until food took center stage. It won the Detroit Free Press Restaurant of the Year in 2016.

"When we opened Chartreuse, we were extremely limited in that the kitchen was tiny, so Doug would have to formulate the menu and kitchen stations in a very creative and thoughtful way," Levine said. "(The new) building has a big open space, which gives us the freedom to shape the restaurant."

Dragonfly will also have a minimal selection of bar food. In addition, Ben Robison, pastry chef at Chartreuse, will take those talents to Milwaukee Junction. Levine said the new restaurant still involves a lot of moving parts, but creating a new, upscale experience for the community is top of mind.

"One night after service Doug and I were talking about career goals, and we kind of both agreed that while Chartreuse had been a major milestone in both of our careers, it wasn't the pinnacle of what we wanted to accomplish," Levine said.